Intellectual property rights (IPRs) have been acknowledged and protected in China since 1980. China has acceded to the major international conventions on protection of rights to intellectual property. Domestically, protection of intellectual property law has also been established by government legislation, administrative regulations, and decrees in the areas of trademark, copyright, and patent.
China first began accepting foreign IP concepts when foreign countries forced the Qing dynasty to accept them as part of the bilateral treaties that followed the Boxer Protocol (1901). The early People's Republic of China abolished the statutes enacted by China's Nationalist government and adopted an approach to copyright, trademark, and patent issues more consistent with the model of the Soviet Union. Chinese policymakers became interested in integrating into the global IP framework as the government sought to import more technology in the 1970s.
In the 1980s, China began to join international treaties on IP issues. After joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, it assumed IP obligations under the TRIPS Agreement and revised its domestic laws to conform to the TRIPS standards. Internationally, China's view is that the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) should be the primary international forum for IP rule-making. Generally, China's approach internationally is to advocate for maintaining the TRIPS standards, sometimes joining with other developing countries to oppose an increase in obligations beyond TRIPS.
China's legal framework for intellectual property protection is developing rapidly as China becomes a source of innovation, although its IP framework is still less developed than most industrialized nations as of 2023. The general trend of its IP system has been to develop towards increasing similarity with the E.U. and U.S. systems.
International framework Historically, China began accepting foreign IP concepts at the start of the 20th century, abolished them when the PRC was established, and began acknowledging IP rights during Reform and Opening up. In 1902, the Qing dynasty agreed to the Boxer Protocol and agreed to establish domestic laws on IP in bilateral treaties that followed.
After the 1972 visit of United States President Richard Nixon to the People's Republic of China, China increasingly sought to import technology. The desire to important technology prompted China to begin integrating itself into the global IP framework.
In 1980, China became a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). As of at least 2023, China's view is that WIPO should be the primary international forum for IP rule-making. China acceded to the WIPO-administered the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property on 19 December 1984 and became an official member on 19 March 1985. China also acceded to the WIPO-administered Madrid Agreement for the International Registration of Trademarks in June 1989. China is also a signatory to the WIPO-administered Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances, which enhances performers' intellectual property rights. It is the only IP treaty named after a Chinese city.
China acceded to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in 1992 and assumed its obligations under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. China's adoption of TRIPS incentivized Chinese policymakers to improve the country's regulatory structure to encourage national innovation and resulted in significant domestic policy reforms. The TRIPS agreement is also the basis of China's domestic IP law, as China conformed its IP law, including regarding patents, trademark, and copyright, to the TRIPS standards.
Following the TRIPS Agreement, a recurring issue for the WTO has been discussion over the creation of a geographical indications register (protecting GI wine and spirits) or a geographical indication extension which would go beyond wines and spirits. China's regional specialties are generally more geared towards agricultural products rather than wines and spirits, and tends to favor a geographical indication extension.
IP was an important consideration during the course of China's negotiations to re-enter the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
In 2012, China hosted the China-ASEAN Seminar on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, Traditional Knowledge, and Genetic Resources.
As of at least 2023, China's general approach in addressing IP issues in international forums is to maintain TRIPS Agreement standards and sometimes joining the proposals of other developing countries to oppose further increases in IP standards. China has also been trending towards increased alignment with the positions taken by developed countries. The global regulation of IP involves multiple non-hierarchical international institutions, and China sometimes adopts different or inconsistent proposals in different forums. Since the creation of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) in 2003, MOFCOM has generally been China's lead negotiator on IP issues in international forums.
As part of the Like-Minded Megadiverse Countries (LMMC), China promotes international negotiations on the disclosure of the origin of genetic resources in the context of patents. China is involved in discussions on the protection of genetic resources in a variety of international forums, including the TRIPS Council, the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee, and in its free-trade agreements. As of at least 2023, multilateral negotiations on the disclosure obligation feature strong disagreements between LMMC, EU, and the United States regarding whether a disclosure obligation is necessary and if so, how one should be implemented.
National legal framework China's legal framework for intellectual property protection is developing rapidly as China becomes a source of innovation, although its IP framework is still less developed than most industrialized nations as of 2023. The general trend of its IP system has been to develop towards increasing similarity with the E.U. and U.S. systems.
China established its first Trademark Law in 1982, its Patent Law in 1984, and its Copyright Law in 1990. It comprehensively amended these laws after it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.
Trademark law
In 1950, China issued Procedures for Dealing with Trademarks Registered at the Trademark Office of the Former Kuomintang Government which eliminated all trademarks registered under the Nationalist government. Provisional Regulations on Trademark Registration, issued in the same year, allowed registration of foreign trademarks. Few holders used the procedures.
In conformity with the TRIPS Agreement, China amended the Trademark Law in 2000.
China uses a first-to-file trademark registration system. Trademark registrants do not need to demonstrate their prior use of a trademark.
The first-to-file system caused a serious problem with trademark squatters who would register marks properly belonging to other companies. In 2019, China issued new regulations that provide a person may not register a mark in bad faith and lacking intent to use or infringe on others’ prior use rights. Translated in
Copyright law
History The concept of copyright in China has been found to exist at least as far back as the Song dynasty (960–1279). The publishers of a work at that time wrote on the final page of a text that it could not be copied. The first modern official code was implemented in 1910 at the end of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). A new version was issued in 1915 during the Warlord Era of the Republic of China. On May 23, 1928, the Nationalist Government enacted a copyright law that covered books, music, paintings, photographs, engravings, and models. The copyright for most items existed for 30 years after the death of the author. Translations of literary works had a 20-year copyright and photographs had a 10-year copyright after publication. Corporate copyright existed for 30 years after publication.
The People's Republic of China abolished the Republic of China statutes in 1949. The PRC found the Soviet intellectual model more consistent with traditional Chinese thinking than the Republic of China model, as the Soviet model accorded with the idea that through invention or creation, people engaged in social activities drawing on a body of knowledge that belonged to all people. In contrast to patents and trademarks, the early PRC did not issue comparable copyright regulations. Instead, official policy in this area was set by resolutions passed in the early 1950s. These included editorial rules by which state publishing entities were encouraged to memorialize the author-publisher relationship in contracts which would cover submitting manuscripts, publication, and payment.
A copyright statute was not adopted until 1990. WIPO provided technical assistance to China during the drafting of the 1990 Copyright Law.
Current law
The Copyright Law was amended in 2000 to ensure compliance with China's obligations under the TRIPS Agreement.
In 2015, the National Copyright Administration required all domestic online music platforms to remove unlicensed music or face severe sanctions.
An influential decision by the Beijing Internet Court has ruled that artificial intelligence-generated content is entitled to copyright protection.
Patent law
In 1950, the PRC issued Provisional Regulations on the Protection of Invention Rights and Patent Rights. The PRC's early regulations provided for inventors' patent rights, but these were abolished fairly quickly under the view that patent rights were incompatible with socialism. China then followed the model of the Soviet Union's investor certificates, honorary titles that were granted to investors without remuneration. Just prior to the Cultural Revolution, China completely abolished its patent regulations.
In 1984, China passed the Patent Law of the PRC to encourage invention-creation and to promote the development of science and technology. The subsequent Implementing Regulations of the Patent Law of the PRC added clarification.
In addition to invention patents and design patents, utility patents are available under Chinese law. In cases of joint patentees, the default rule in China is that each patentee can grant nonexclusive license without the other joint patentees' consent. Joint patentees can avoid application of this default rule by agreement, however.
As compared to the United States, China has more non-patentable matters. Pharmaceuticals and chemicals were not patentable under the 1984 Patent Law, but became patentable after the law was amended in 1992. A bilateral memorandum of understanding with the United States made this amendment to domestic law necessary. China accepted this requirement because it would have ultimately been necessary in order for China to re-enter GATT.
The Patent Law was again amended in 2000 to ensure compliance with China's obligations under the TRIPS Agreement. In 2008, amendments to the Patent Law added provisions on the protection of genetic resources. These amendments established a disclosure obligation for genetic resources, a domestic provision which developed from the positions China took in negotiating on this issue in the TRIPS Council. 2010 Implementation Rules of the Patent Law define genetic resources as any material taken from a human, animal, plant, or microorganism containing genetically functioning units with actual or potential value.